{"id":3502,"date":"2009-07-24T09:49:09","date_gmt":"2009-07-23T22:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/?p=3502"},"modified":"2009-08-28T18:56:13","modified_gmt":"2009-08-28T07:56:13","slug":"of-sand-whales-and-assault-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/07\/24\/of-sand-whales-and-assault-girls\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Sand “Whales” and Assault Girls"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"assaultgirls04\"<\/a>Think Dune<\/em> meets Tremors<\/em> meets any number of Japanese movies featuring combatic female warriors in a futuristic setting!<\/p>\n

It has been announced that Mamoru Oshii — most famous for the iconic hi-tech anti-cybernetic-terrorist anime Ghost in the Shell<\/em> and the live-action VR scifi film Avalon<\/em> — is writing and directing another live-action feature about a trio of heavily-armed (and armoured) female hunters who have come to a wasteland in their “angelic” mecha-suits to deal with the giant “Suna Kujira\u201d (literally, sand whales) that have left the planet a ruin. They battle the creatures, “including the biggest of them all, the Madara Suna Kujira (spotted sand whale)” (AnimeNewsNetwork<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Titled Assault Girls<\/em>, the film is based on two shorts that Oshii made for a pair of anthology films, Assault Girl: Kentucky no Hinako<\/strong> (which was part of the 2007 anthology Shin Onna Tachiguishi Retsuden<\/em> or “Women of Fast Food” and is viewable below — or was until They took it down) and Assault Girl 2<\/em> (from Kiru<\/em> or “Kill” from 2008).<\/p>\n

Oshii’s best work has been characterised by intelligent plotting, the complex metaphysical exploration of AI technologies and emotional depth. Whether or not he can bring these qualities to a film abou women battling sand worms, we can only wait and see. Either way, the film is likely to be a visual treat.<\/p>\n

Assault Girls<\/strong> is scheduled for release in Japan on 19 December 2009.<\/p>\n